The ministry confirmed in a statement that the occupation army stormed the Khirbet al-Burj site in the village of al-Mazra’a al-Sharqiya, northeast of Ramallah, accompanied by a bulldozer and a crane, and bulldozed parts of the place and looted its contents, including columns dating back to the Byzantine period.
She described it as a "flagrant violation of international law, including the 1954 Hague Convention and its protocols, and the 1970 and 1972 UNESCO Conventions," calling on international institutions to "intervene urgently to save the Palestinian national heritage and stop the looting."
She noted that she would follow up on what happened with international bodies, including UNESCO (the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization), and would demand the return of the confiscated archaeological materials.
In this context, eyewitnesses stated that the occupation army stormed a mountainous area in Al-Mazra’a Al-Sharqiya and seized about five ancient columns from a site dating back to the Byzantine era.
In previous periods, several areas in the West Bank witnessed "looting" of historical artifacts, according to Palestinian officials.
In contrast, Israeli authorities claimed to have recovered dozens of artifacts from a site where Palestinians had built a structure in the center, causing damage to the archaeological remains at the site.
The Hebrew website "i24" reported that "on Thursday, the Civil Administration forces, through the Israeli army's monitoring unit and under the supervision of the Antiquities Unit, worked to retrieve archaeological finds from the Lasana Tower site in area (B)."
On Thursday, Palestinian Minister of Tourism and Antiquities Hani al-Hayek said that Israel had completely or partially destroyed more than 316 archaeological sites in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank during its war of extermination on the Strip, warning of what he described as a "systematic targeting" of Palestinian historical sites.
On November 18, the head of the Palestinian Wall and Settlement Resistance Commission, Mu’ayyad Sha’ban, revealed that Israel intends to seize 4,600 dunams of land belonging to the towns of Sebastia and Burqa in the Nablus Governorate in the northern West Bank, under the pretext of protecting archaeological sites.
A report by the Madar Center for Israeli Studies also showed that Israel claims there are 3,064 Jewish heritage sites in the West Bank, including 2,452 sites in Area C.
In July 2024, the Knesset passed a bill imposing the powers of the "Israeli Antiquities Authority" on all areas of the West Bank, in a move described by observers as part of a "creeping annexation policy".
